CONSTRUCTION OF AIR MUSEUM IS LAUNCHED IN SCHUYLKILL

The Mid Atlantic Air Museum in Schuylkill County will have plenty to offer aircraft enthusiasts - even more than the aircraft museum at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

Groundbreaking ceremonies for the $1.65-million complex were held yesterday at the Joe Zerbey Airport in Foster Township. When the museum opens its doors to the public on Jan. 1, 1988, it will become the world's fifth- largest flying-aircraft museum.

"What makes the museum so unique is that most aircraft museums have static displays; that is, the aircraft are restored, but they don't fly," explained Kay May, public relations director for the museum. "For example, the Smithsonian is world-renowned, but its aircraft don't fly."

The airport is just off Interstate 81 at the Minersville exit. The 62,600- square-foot complex will house about 26 vintage aircraft.

Aircraft on display will include a B-25 bomber used in the movie "Catch 22," a Douglass DC-3 (Navy R-4D), a Lockheed P2V-7 "Neptune," a Korean War era F-84 Sabre Jet, a DeHavilland L-20 Beaver and other restored military and civilian aircraft.

The museum's goal is to hold air shows similar to the Oshkosh Fly-In in Wisconsin, which May calls the "granddaddy of air shows." The shows will feature the restored aircraft performing aerobatic acts.

"There are more regulations these days - the pilots can't be as devilish as they used to be in the old air shows - but it's still a phenomenal experience," May said. "The pilots that perform in the shows will come from all over the country."

The complex will also feature a12,600-square-foot maintenance and aircraft restoration area that will give visitors an opportunity to view ongoing work on aircraft. May said the museum expects to attract 140,000 visitors a year.

"Restoration facilities, like those at the Smithsonian, aren't normally open to the public," May said. "Our restoration facility will give people an opportunity to see the restoration being done."

Between 15 and 20 people (full-and part-time workers and volunteers) will staff the museum. May said the restoration projects are carried out by volunteer labor from the 857 museum members. (Memberships are available at $35 for the first year and $25 for each subsequent year.)

The DC-3 was restored over three years at a cost of $140,000, and the B-25 - nicknamed "Briefing Time" - was restored to make it appear as it did during World War II. The museum's most ambitious project will be the restoration of a P-61 Black Widow, which is also known as a Night Fighter.

Before it can restored, however, the P-61 has to be recovered from the top of a mountain in Indonesia. Because the recovery project is still in the paperwork stage, May said, it's hard to tell when the P-61 will be transported to the museum.

"That particular aircraft is rare; there are only three known others like it in the world," May said. "Someone found it on top of a mountain, and through the discovery of that we're going through a lot of paperwork to bring it back."

The 50,000-square-foot museum will contain a 30,000-square-foot "auditorium" with space for up to 24 aircraft, an Aviation Theater, a banquet room, a research library, a restaurant and a museum store. Visitors to the Aviation Theater will view videotapes of air shows, and films and slide shows that explain the history of aircraft.

"We hope to have everything completed (by the Jan. 1 target date)," May said. "When people walk through that door, we want them to take full advantage of the total facility."

The building project was awarded to the Susquehanna Construction Corp., Harrisburg. The Mid Atlantic Air Museum will lease its facilities from the Schuylkill County Airport Authority, which borrowed the $1.65 million from Meridian Bank of Reading.

May said Schuylkill County was a natural choice for the museum because the mid-Atlantic region is synonymous with aviation history in the United States. That history will preserved through the museum's activities and aircraft.

"Very simply put, there's a lot of history in the county," May said, "and aircraft are a large part of that history."